Cooking for two
by Moon.2484
Summary: She crinkled her nose in that adorable Usagi way Mamoru loved so much. Looking up at Mamoru with even more confusion. “ Mamochan, what’s this?”
1. Yummy tummy Thursdays

I DO NOT OWN SAILOR MOON OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS...

Everything was going wrong today; his alarm didn't go off, one of his professors kept pestering him about his scholarship at Harvard "for a highly proclaimed professor you'd think they'd know what "no" meant", his most cherished pen ran out of ink, and to put the cherry on top, he just had to step on gum. Today just wasn't his day. He couldn't wait to get home to relax a little, drink some coffee and hit the books.

"Almost done, you can do this Chiba, you've gotten this far. You knew Med school wasn't a short walk in the park" he pep talked himself.

Once he got to his building he felt his tense muscles start to relax. "Get home.Change. Drink some coffee. Eat. Study. I'm all set" he thought to himself.

After exiting the elevator he made his way towards his apartment. Fumbling with his pocket he was taking out his keys, when the door flew open.

"Mamochaaaaaaaaan! I'm so glad you're finally home" Usagi squealed. She threw herself on him and gave him a small peck on the lips. Before Mamoru could respond, Usagi stepped back with a smile on her face. He sweat dropped, he loved his girlfriend, he really did but his agenda for today didn't include high pitched squeals or Usagi for that matter. He knew he needed to focus on his studies, that whole Galaxia bit and being dead really put a toll on his progress of finishing med school.

"Uh, Usako?... what are you doing here? I thought you had dance practice today?" While the other senshi had gotten accepted into Tokyo University, Usagi had received a full ride scholarship to the Tokyo University school of Art. It didn't come to be a surprise when she chose the fine arts route, Usagi was the embodiment of art. However, no one would have thought in a million years that Tsukino Usagi, klutz extraordinaire would make it to the school's dance team, an elite dance team. His little bunny had shocked the pants off everyone when she came running that day with the news ( but that's another story for another time) Mamoru was extremely proud of her, he really was.

Usagi took a further step back and looked at him as if he was demented."It's Thursday". That's right, how could he forget? He wanted to facepalm in that moment. After his return from the dead it became a little tradition of theirs to cook together every Thursday, Usagi had dubbed it "Yummy tummy Thursday". They, meaning she, would decide on a dish or a baked good they would try to make, keyword "try".

"So I was thinking we'd go a little Italian today and make some pizza" she said starry eyed. At 18 and she still got excited over food. " What do you think Mamochan?" She said looking at him.

Flour. Flour everywhere. The first thing that went through Mamoru's mind was the fiasco from three weeks ago.That day, Usagi had wanted to make red velvet cake pops in the shape of bunnies.

——flashback——-

"Ooh Mamochan! They're gonna come out so kawaii" she squealed. One moment they were mixing the batter, before he could muster a word, the batter was everywhere. The countertop, the fridge, his pristine white kitchen floor, heck even the ceiling got a taste of the red sticky mess. It looked like a murder scene waiting to be taped off.

If that wasn't bad enough, as Usagi tried to turn off the mixer with flailing arms she managed to knock the bag of flour spilling all of its contents on his pristine "bloody looking" floor.

"Oops". Usagi had whispered.

——end of flashback——

She was waiting for his answer. All that mess, the time it took to clean, don't even get him started on how many days it took to remove the red from his kitchen floors to have it stay a blush pink (Usagi's words, not his). Granted, after the whole incident they still managed to make mini cupcakes from the little batter that wasn't spewed all over his kitchen, but he didn't have the time to pick up after Usagi's mess. Lets not forget the shopping they still would need to do get whatever ingredients for this "pizza". If he had it his way he would last no more than 20 minutes tops getting everything he needed from the supermarket. Usagi on the other hand was a different story, for her it was like going to the zoo, she oohed and awed at every little thing. One time, he found her crying at lobster tank. He was greatly tempted to throw one of his sharpest roses to the idiot who told her they were cooked alive. It took him nearly an hour to console her. HE DIDN'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS. Papers were soon to be due, exams were coming up, his labs were getting to him. He NEEDED to study dammit!

"Oh! And maybe we can make some cheesecake brownies too, Mako gave me this scrumptious recipe to try" She said excitedly.

His horrible day flashed in his mind; his alarm not going off, his pestering professor with the horrible toupe, his pen running out of ink, the gum on his shoe (that he had yet to fully take off) and did he mention that guy from his sociology class that tried to hit on him, the cooking disaster waiting to happen, add that to the stress of studying. He could feel his left eye twitching, hands shaking in a clenched fist. Mamoru's patience was slipping.

"Mamochan? Are you okay?" She touched his arm tentatively. Already feeling a bit better with just a simple touch from his Usako. Mamoru took a deep breath trying to reign in his patience. "Actually I had a lousy day today". He grumbled. She took him by the hand to have a seat on the couch. She held his hand while he recounted his day to Usagi. He made the mistake of telling her about his male classmate that flirted with him, she had to swallow her laugh when he gave her a glare, daring her to laugh.

A giggle escaped from Usagi, she cleared her throat, trying to console her boyfriend, running small circles on the hand she was holding. "Well it could have been worse" she said still keeping her laughter in. Mamoru turned to face Usagi with a deadpan look. Leave it to her to find this humorous.

"Oh come on, turn that frown upside down Mamochan". Usagi teased. "How about you change into something more comfortable while I make you some coffee and then we can decide on what to make for today's Yummy tummy Thursday, it doesn't have to be pizza."

Taking another deep breath Mamoru took both of Usagi's hands. Bringing them up to his lips, kissing her knuckles with such gentleness. This brought Usagi a beautiful blush on her cheeks. After all this time he loved that he could still make her blush.

"Actually Usako, I was thinking… how about we try just ordering in some take out?"

A gasp broke from her lips, "What about getting to cook together? It's tradition!"

" Usako, I don't...I uh.." how in the world was he supposed to tell his girlfriend he didn't really enjoy their cooking bouts.

"I.. I thought you liked cooking together? " he could start to see the unsheded tears.

He had to tell her. She'd understand right? I mean it's not like I'm kicking her out of the apartment or anything. " I just… I love you, you know that right", she nodded, a tear slipping out. Okay, maybe not the whole truth, half the truth is still being honest right? "I have a lot of studying to do Usako and exams are coming up soon, I have a lot to make up after…" he didn't need to finish that sentence. The look in her eyes confirmed she got what he was trying to say.

She averted her gaze from him, avoiding his eyes "But...what about? When will I be able to you?"

Mamoru looked puzzled for a second, did she honestly think he was going to stop seeing her? he lifted her chin up to meet his gaze, "We'll still have Tummy Yummy Thursdays Usako, just there will be no cooking involved or cleaning for that matter. We can start today, you can order whatever you'd like" he gave her a sweet lingering kiss on the forehead.

"Usako?" He murmured, lips still pressed on her forehead. She hadn't answered him yet.

"What about udon noodles?"

"Udon noodles it is"

After finishing their take out, Usagi had made her way out to leave Mamoru to his studies. While taking out his physics book a smile broke out of his lips while thinking of Usagi. He knew if a situation like this had risen a couple years back Usagi would have made a big deal about it. Probably would have questioned his love for her. Not anymore, Usagi had been maturing. No longer was she the emotional cry baby, okay she could still get emotional but then again what girl didn't. She still did get jealous when another girl would flirt with him, but at least she didn't think of moon dusting them as if they were youma. Usagi was more understanding, more gentle, she was slowly becoming her Neo Queen Serenity self. Tsukino Usagi was growing up, and boy was she growing up. Her cerulean blue eyes that have been to hell and back, yet filled with so much life and love, those beautiful pouty lips that he could...WILL kiss forever, how well her body had been developing, the kind all girls aspire to have, those long amazing legs of hers toned with the right amount of muscle, he could just picture them wrapped around his…. stop. Mamoru cleared his throat and raked a hand through his dark hair, a blush staining his cheeks, spreading towards his ears.

"Get it together Chiba. Get your mind out of the gutter, stop fantasizing about your girlfriend and get to work".

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Hi readers, bear with me, this is my first time writing a fic especially if these 2 lovebirds. This will be 2 chapters long, I was working on a one shot, that didn't really work out well hehe anywho, hope you enjoy this first chapter, there's still one more chapter, I'm working on it.


	2. Mamoru al italiano

Mamoru sat there with a sullen expression on his face, eyes focused on his plate of yakitori. He looked at his front door, then turned his head toward the offending dish,a disgruntled look marred his face. Usagi had just left a few minutes ago, only stopping by to say hi and drop off his food. There was nothing wrong with the skewer. In fact it was his favorite; chicken and spring onions seasoned with tare sauce and white rice on the side. Usagi even brought him a double chocolate chunk muffin from their favorite bakery shop they discovered not too long ago.

He let out a deep sigh, lifting his hand towards his dinner. Picking up a skewer he narrowed his eyes at it accusingly and took a bite out of it. A couple minutes later and he shoved the plate away from him, the plate more than half full. Maybe he wasn't that hungry? At that moment his stomach growled. Okay he was definitely hungry. He just wasn't in the mood for yakitori, sushi, nigiri, udon noodles, or rice buns. Mamoru was fed up with takeout, he wanted a home cooked meal.

It had been a month since their weekly tradition dwindled. They still ate together. Occasionally. No more did Yummy Tummy Thursdays exist. After that talk, both he and Usagi got swamped with school work. On top of that, Usagi's next recital was coming up so the dance team decided to add another day of practice, Thursdays to be exact. Since then, they would do their best to fit their "dinner dates" on another day that both weren't so busy, squeezing at least 30 minutes to spend time together. Today being 5 minutes and only because her mom called her last minute to tell her they had an appointment for a spa day.

So here he was on the brink of tears if he had to eat takeout again. He wanted something made from his kitchen. Not just any home cooked meal, no he was in the mood for some cuisine food. Linguine carbonara. His back facing the kitchen he looked back to his kitchen to his stack of books. He knew he had to study, but you can't start a car without fuel right? He convinced himself that he needed the energy to study later on.

" Mangiamo Luingine carbonara stasera Chiba" he said in his "Italianized" accent. Meaning "let's eat luingine carbonara tonight Chiba" or at least that's what google translate told him and Usagi it meant. For all they knew they could have been saying they just committed murder, but nonetheless the day they made luinigine carbonara together was "exquisitely delicious" according to his Usako. Makoto would have been proud of their dish.

Mamoru pushed himself off the floor heading to the kitchen, opening the fridge he realized he was missing some of the ingredients. Closing his fridge door he made way towards his bedroom to change and head out to the supermarket.

Walking into the supermarket Mamoru heard squealing. He turned towards the young school girl hanging off the arm of what he assumed to be her boyfriend. "Yuki-chaaan! Look the Milky's are buy two get one free!!!! Can we take some pleeeease" giving him her best puppy dog eyes. He could see the young man before him go from annoyed to loving eyes in the span of 3 seconds once he caught sight of his girlfriend. He was a goner. "Of course Karu-Chan" Yuki replied softly.

Mamoru shook his head, a lighthearted chuckle escaping his lips. He felt a slight tug on his heart, witnessing the exchange between the young couple reminded him of his Usako. With a tiny smile on his face he made his way around the store getting the groceries he needed.

Fifteen minutes. That's all it took him to gather the things he needed and head out. It was a new record. Even the exchange at the cash register was no more than a minute. Mainly because Usagi was always the one making light conversation.

On his way home, the sun was just starting to set. It was his favorite time of day. Golden sun descending below the horizon, the once blue sky radiating warmth with shades of blues, pinks, and violet. Once again he was reminded of Usagi.

————-Flashback————

Finished buying what they needed to make Mac cheese because Usagi had insisted it was America's number one meal and they just had to try it. Not that he believed it, he scoffed at his girlfriend's statement, NO WAY could a country with such prestigious Universities like Harvard, Yale, or Princeton would be well known for a simple dish as Mac cheese. Especially when Minako was the one to "affirm" it. Apparently during her time as a teen idol, it was all she ate when she went to America for a special meet and greet. Then again this is Minako we're talking about, the girl who couldn't get the right idioms even if her life depended on it.

They were making their way back to his apartment. Mamoru holding the bags in one hand, Usagi looping one of his arms with hers. Head leaning against his shoulder, at least close to his shoulder, she was still more than a good foot shorter than him. Usagi snuggled her way in closer to him. As soon as she was comfortable enough she let out a content sigh.

"Isn't this romantic Mamochan?"

" Mac cheese is romantic now?" snickering.

Usagi lifted her head and punched Mamoru on the arm. "Ouch! What was that for?" trying to rub the sore spot without dropping the plastic bags.

Ignoring his question, Usagi went back to their previous position. Continuing their trek home, they stood silent for a few moments before Mamoru broke the silence.

" The beauty of the setting sun is symbolic of the beauty and mystery of life itself. As the sun sets, light fades, which is symbolic of the forces of darkness. No one wants darkness Usako" her said is a hushed whisper

Usagi shook her head slightly, " You're looking at it the wrong way Mamochan, 'The first stab of love is like a sunset, a blaze of color' it's a quote I read off one of tumblr it's by someone named Anna Godberson. Don't interrupt me, let me explain. So you know how the colors as the sun is setting are warmer tones" he nodded."Okay well the colors that radiate off a sunset sky bring warmth and hope that another day will come, it's a way of nature giving a farewell kiss for the night before they meet again the next day."

Mamoru's heart did a flip, forget a flip, it was doing cartwheels. He wasn't ashamed to admit that his girlfriend just swept him off his feet with her explanation of sunsets being romantic. In that moment he was reminded yet again how much his precious moon goddess had grown. He was more than grateful that this amazingly, loving, pure hearted creature was his.

Letting go of her arm, he entwined their hands together, giving her a tight squeeze. Usagi giggled a wide smile spreading across her face. Sunsets were now his favorite time of day.

——————end of flashback———————-

Mamoru entered his apartment, he took off his shoes in his genkan. He went straight to the kitchen, not bothering to change. The man was hungry. Forty minutes later and Mamoru was adding the last spices to his pasta dish.

"Ben appetito Chiba… or was it buon appetito? ...Ah who cares" rubbing his hands excitedly.

Five minutes later and he had yet to devour the food. He tried savoring it, but it didn't taste right. He used the same ingredients they used last time. Yet something was missing. Or more like someone was missing. Mamoru put his fork down. He looked towards his kitchen, what should have been a sink full of pots and pans, red sauce all over his countertop, parsley and basil thrown all over his floor like confetti, yet his kitchen was spotless. The only dish that needed washing was the pan that held the pasta on the stove top.

Turning around to face his living room area he noticed the place looked dark. The darkness of night had swallowed up the little light that was left. He got up and walked towards the living room balcony. Standing outside the sliding glass door Mamoru looked up at the Moon. He could feel it's light, her light engulfing him.

"Usako". He whispered to the night

He felt his heart tighten at the mention of her name. Now he knew what he was feeling. It wasn't the repeats of takeout or eating a home cooked meal. It was the absence of Usagi's presence. He felt alone.

—————flashback—————————-

Grunting and mumbling "Beat that you flour-y villain. Take that. In the name of the moon and my love for all baked goods, I sailor moon will punish you" she let out a hearty laugh at the end.

Mamoru was standing by fridge, eggs in hand, watching with great amusement the spectacle his girlfriend was putting on. Clearing his throat,"Usako, what are you doing?" he asked with a hint of humor he was trying really hard not burst out laughing.

Usagi stopped what she was doing, turning to face her boyfriend, hands on her hips, raising a blond eyebrow. "What does it look like I'm doing Mamo-chan?"

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to beat—" dropping the eggs Mamoru doubled over in laughter. He couldn't breath. He had to kneel on the floor before he collapsed. Looking up at Usagi, he burst out in laughter again. This repeated for at least another 3 times.

"You know, it'd be nice if you would clue me in on the joke". Tapping her right foot. Usagi was getting aggravated. She didn't have a clue what could have set his boyfriend off on a laughing spree. One minute he's getting the eggs while she's beating..the.. flour— "That's not how you beat flour is it?" She asked with a deadpanned look on her face.

Mamoru after finally reeling in his funny bone got up off the floor. Wiping the tears from his eyes. "No, that is most definitely not how you beat flour Usako". Usagi turned a bright red.

"I knew it! That son of a—-"

Closing the gap between them, he kissed her. The chaste kiss didn't last long, pushing her against his countertop, bodies pressed against another it was rapidly turning into passion and want. Realizing this he leaned away from her body and went to kissing her slowly again, until they needed to stop both air. Cupping her cheeks, he kissed those beautiful plump lips of hers. "You my little moon senshi are quite the character, and I wouldn't have you any other way". He kissed her again, Usagi forgetting her plot of revenge on one fiery priestess.

——————end of flashback————————

It definitely didn't have anything to do with the food. He missed the time spent cooking together. He missed the way she got excited when they went grocery shopping. He missed the way she would swirl her hips anytime she was on mixing duty saying it was scientifically proven that it made the mixing process better. Even though he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket he missed their karaoke sessions in the kitchen. He even missed cleaning because they did it together. Most of all he missed that he wasn't cooking for himself anymore, he was cooking for two.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Okay I lied… I thought 2 chapters was going to be enough but guess not. So there is still one more chapter to go. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know I did while writing it… "beat the flour" haha only Usagi, and that's why we love her. Stay tuned!


End file.
